I,

FORM 11.

do certify that I am the president of the

....

company which

filed (or that I am the person who filed) reservoir declaratory statement, No. ...., in the local land office at .; that the reservoir proposed has been constructed upon the quarter of the quarter of section township ...., range principal meridian, covering an area of acres, the initial point of the survey being (describe as in Form 10); that the dam and all necessary works have been constructed in a substantial manner, in good faith, in order that the reservoir may be used and maintained for the purposes and in the manner prescribed by the said act of January 13, 1897 (29 Stat., 484), the provisions of which have been and will be complied with in all respects.

[Seal of company.]

Attest:

President of the Company.

Secretary.

FORM 12.

being duly sworn, deposes and says that he is the president of the company which filed (or that he is the person who filed) reservoir declaratory statement, No. in the local land office at .....; that the reservoir constructed in pursuance thereof, as heretofore certified, has been kept in repair; that water has been kept therein to the extent of not less than ... gallons during the entire calendar year of 19..; that neither the reservoir nor any part of the land reserved for use in connection therewith is or has been fenced during said years, and that the said company has in all things complied with the provisions of the act of January 13, 1897 (29 Stat., 484).

REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE SELECTION OF INDEMNITY

SCHOOL LANDS.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, D. C., January 10, 1906.

The following rules and regulations governing the selection of indemnity school lands are prescribed for the purpose of preserving an uniform method in all States and Territories having a grant of lands for common schools prior to the passage of the act of February 28, 1891 (26 Stat. L., 796), including the State of Utah, to which the indemnity provision of said act were made applicable by the act of May 3, 1902 (32 Stat. L., p. 188).

The act of February 28, 1891, amending sections 2275 and 2276, Revised Statutes, is general and provides that:

SEC. 2275. Where settlements with a view to preemption or homestead have been, or shall hereafter be made, before the survey of the lands in the field, which are found to have been made on sections sixteen or thirty-six, those sections shall be subject to the claims of such settlers; and if such sections, or either of them, have been or shall be granted, reserved, or pledged for the use of schools or colleges in the State or Territory in which they lie, other lands of equal acreage are hereby appropriated and granted, and may be selected by said State or Territory, in lieu of such as may be thus taken by preemption or homestead settlers. And other lands of equal acreage are also hereby appropriated and granted, and may be selected by said State or Territory where sections sixteen or thirty-six are mineral land, or are included within any Indian, military, or other reservation, or are otherwise disposed of by the United States: Provided, Where any State is entitled to said sections sixteen and thirty-six, or where said sections are reserved to any Territory, notwithstanding the same may be mineral land or embraced within a military, Indian, or other reservation, the selection of such lands in lieu thereof by said State or Territory shall be a waiver of its right to said sections. And other lands of equal acreage are also hereby appropriated and granted, and may be selected by said State or Territory to compensate deficiencies for school purposes, where sections sixteen or thirty-six are fractional in quantity, or where one or both are wanting by reason of the township being fractional, or from any natural cause whatever. And it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Interior, without awaiting the extension of the public surveys, to ascertain and determine, by protraction or otherwise, the number of townships that will be included within such Indian, military, or other reservations, and thereupon the State or Territory shall be entitled to select indemnity lands to the extent of two sections for each of said townships, in lieu of sections sixteen and thirty-six therein; but such selections may not be made within the boundaries of said reservations: Provided, however, That nothing herein contained shall prevent any State or Territory from awaiting the extinguishment of any such military, Indian, or other reservation and the restoration of the lands therein embraced to the public domain and then taking the sections sixteen and thirty-six in place therein; but nothing in this proviso shall be construed as conferring any right not now existing.

SEC. 2276. That the lands appropriated by the preceding section shall be selected from any unappropriated, surveyed public lands, not mineral in character, within the State or Territory where such losses or deficiencies of school sections occur; and where the selections are to compensate for deficiencies of school lands in fractional townships, such selections shall be made in accordance with the following principles of adjustment, to wit: For each township, or fractional township, containing a greater quantity of land than three-quarters of an entire township, one section; for a fractional

township, containing a greater quantity of land than one-half, and not more than three-quarters of a township, three-quarters of a section; for a fractional township, containing a greater quantity of land than one-quarter, and not more than one-half of a township, one-half section; and for a fractional township containing a greater quantity of land than one entire section, and not more than one-quarter of a township, one-quarter section of land: Provided, That the States or Territories which are, or shall be entitled to both the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections in place, shall have the right to select double the amounts named, to compensate for deficiencies of school lands in fractional townships.

1. The selections in any one list must not in the aggregate exceed

160 acres.

2. All lists of selections must be prepared so that each selection will correspond, approximately, in area with the base lands, or lands in lieu of which the selection is made. It is preferred that a separate base be assigned to each legal subdivision selected, but in no instance can any selection exceed 160 acres, nor can it consist of noncontiguous tracts.

3. Where the selection is based upon lands that have been disposed of by or under authority of any act of Congress, the base tract or tracts must be described by legal subdivisions, each in its entirety, except as provided in paragraph 5 hereof.

4. The cause of the loss must in each case be specifically stated. If caused by an entry based upon a settlement claim initiated prior to survey, the number of the entry must be given. If occasioned by a reservation of the land, entitling the States to indemnity, the date, name, and purpose of the reservation must be stated. If the loss occurs by reason of the fractional character of the township, or the supposed mineral character of the land, it must be set forth.

5. Where the selection is for a loss occasioned by the fractional condition of the township from natural or other causes, or for lands included within a perfected claim, the survey of which is not in accordance with the rectangular system, any portion of the loss, not less than 1 acre, may be assigned as a basis, and any remaining portion, not less than 1 acre, may be used in future selections.

6. Where lands are reserved for school purposes and are after survey included in any Indian, military, or other reservation, or have been reserved for school purposes, "whether surveyed or unsurveyed," and are assigned as the basis for selection, the list must in every case be accompanied by a certificate of the officer, or officers, charged with the care and disposal of such school lands, that the State has not previously sold or disposed of, nor contracted to sell or dispose of, any of said lands used as bases, nor any part thereof; that the said lands and every part thereof are free of all liens for taxes, costs, interest, and judgments, or any incumbrance of any nature whatsoever, and that the said lands are not in the possession or subject to the claim of any third party, under any law or permission of the State or Territory; and within three months after the filing of any such list of selection s the State or Territory must in addition file a certificate from the recorder of deeds, or official custodian of the records of transfers of real estate in the proper county, that no instruments, purporting to convey or in any way incumber the title to any of said lands, are of record, or on file in his office, and the failure to file such certificate within the required time may, upon the report of the local officers, result in the cancellation of the selection without previous notice from this office.

7. The selecting agent must file a certificate with each list showing that indeminty has not previously been granted for the assigned base, and that no previous selection is pending for such assigned base.

8. The lands selected must be from the unappropriated surveyed public lands, not mineral in character, within the State or Territory making the selection, and their nonmineral character must be shown by the affidavit of the selecting agent, or an agent appointed by him for that purpose, and if by the latter, evidence of his appointment should accompany his affidavits. A nonmineral affidavit can not be made upon information and belief, but must be upon the personal knowledge of the affiant and apply to every smallast legal subdivision selected; and, if the selected land is not within 6 miles of any mining claim, entry, or location, that fact must be shown by affidavit.

9. The legal fees required by law must accompany each list of selections.

10. No more than one number must be given to any list, notwithstanding the fact that it may contain more than one selection.

11. When a list of selections is received by mail on the morning that the selected lands are open to settlement, entry, and selection, it will be considered as proffered after the claims of all persons present at the time of opening of the office have been received (32 L. D., 648); but a list received by mail prior to the day of opening will be rejected because prematurely filed.

12. No application to select will be received for lands covered by an existing selection or entry of record, nor will any right be recognized as initiated by the tender of such an application (29 L. D., 29). Where the base land, or any part thereof, for an indemnity selection fails no amendment thereof will be permitted.

13. The local officers are not authorized to accept the relinquishment of any State selection. All relinquishments will be forwarded to the General Land Office through the local office, when, if accepted, the local officers will be directed to cancel the same on their records, and after such cancellation is noted, and not before, the land will be subject to general disposition under the public-land laws.

14. The right to indemnity does not exist for the undisposed school sections within abandoned military reservations, the lands within which are subject to disposal under acts of July 5, 1884, and August 23, 1894, or special acts not making a specific disposition of the school sections (29 L. D., 418, Jan. 19, 1900).

15. Selections made prior to time that decision of January 19,1900 (29 L. D., 418), was received at the local office, in lieu of school lands within abandoned military reservations, or selections made in lieu of school lands within abandoned military reservations embraced within entries allowed prior to time that decision of January 19, 1900, was received at the local office, will, if otherwise regular, be allowed (act of Feb. 11, 1903, 32 Stat. L., 822).

16. When a school section is identified by the Government survey and no claim is, at the date when the right of the State would attach, if at all, asserted thereto under the mining or other public-land laws, the presumption arises that the title to the land has passed to the State, but this presumption may be overcome by the submission of a satisfactory showing to the contrary. Claims of parties based upon mineral locations covering parts of a school section, asserting that same were known to be chiefly valuable for their mineral deposits at and

prior to the time when the right of the State would have attached thereto, if at all, will be disposed of when applications for patents under the mining laws are presented. (Mahoganey No. 2, lode claim, 33 L. D., 37; State of Utah, 32 L. D., 117.)

17. The State will not be permitted to make selection in lieu of land within a school section alleged to be mineral in character, whether returned by the surveyor-general as mineral or otherwise, in the absence of satisfactory proof that the base land (designated by legal subdivisions, Bond v. State of California, 31 L. D., 34) is known to be chiefly valuable for mineral. (Act of February 28, 1891, 28 Stat. L., 796; case of State of California, 33 L. D., 356.) The preliminary proof must show the kind of mineral discovered upon the land and the extent thereof; when and by whom the discoveries were made, and, as far as practicable, whether any claim to the land is asserted under the mining laws, and if so, by whom; the nature and extent of the mining improvements placed upon the land by the mineral claimant, and what efforts have been made and are being made to develop the land in good faith for mineral purposes.

Upon submission by the State of an ex parte showing, conforming substantially to the foregoing requirements, a hearing will be ordered to determine the character of the land, evidence to be submitted in support of the allegations contained in the preliminary showing. Notice of such hearing shall be given by the State by publication of at least once a week for five successive weeks in a newspaper to be designated by the register of the land office as published nearest to the location of such base land, and proof that the notice has been given must be filed in the local land office on or before the day of hearing (sec. 2335, Rev. Stat.). If in any case the proof submitted at the hearing does not clearly show that the base land contains valuable mineral deposits, and is chiefly valuable on account of such deposits, a selection in lieu thereof will not be permitted.

18. A determination by the land department that a portion of the smallest legal subdivision in a school section is mineral land will place that entire subdivision in the class of lands that may be used as a basis for indemnity or lieu selection, and in all such cases there must also be furnished certificates of the proper State authorities, and of the officer in charge of the records in the county where the base lands are situated, showing that such lands have not been sold, encumbered, or otherwise disposed of, as required by paragraph 6 hereof.

19. Where the land sought to be selected in lieu of land within a school section has been returned by the surveyor-general as mineral, notice of the proposed selection must first be given by publication for sixty days, with posting in the local land office and upon each legal subdivision of land applied for, during the same period, and satisfactory proof submitted as to the nonmineral character of the selected land. Upon compliance with this requirement and in the absence of allegation that the land is mineral, the selection may be received, if otherwise regular, certified, and forwarded, as required hereafter.

20. Where land sought to be selected in lieu of land within a school section has not been returned by the surveyor-general as mineral, but is alleged by way of protest to be mineral, or where application for patent therefor is presented under the mining laws, the proceedings in such cases will be in the nature of a contest, and will be governed by the rules of practice in force in contest cases.